I am sipping a hot tea made of garlic, lemon and honey — a homeopathic remedy handed down from mein Schatz‘s father, designed to boost the immune system.  Whenever either of us has even the slightest hint of coming down with something, the apartment may reek of garlic, but we usually stay healthy.  After sleeping for an hour, this is my attempt to kick whatever seems to be dragging me down.  I do not want to be sick during our 11-hour flight to Seattle on Sunday!

We have finished almost all our Christmas shopping.  Only one gift to go, plus one to be bought in the U.S., plus loads of chocolate from the Feinkost shop to be bought on Saturday.  I can hardly wait for a week in my hometown with my family, but would you believe it is all snowy there right now?  That I actually have to worry about our flight arriving in a snowstorm?  This is not the rainy and mild Seattle of my childhood.  Good thing that New York and Germany have sharpened my winter coping abilities.   And thank god for the puffy coat.

On another note, Monday I ate breakfast twice and today I ate lunch twice.   In case that seems strange, let me explain.  It is part of German tradition to serve other people treats on your own birthday.  I originally thought this idea kinda sucked — if it is my day, I want to be pampered!  However, I am now starting to understand the benefit of this kind of a system.  See, a colleague had a birthday on Monday and brought in a complete breakfast for all of us — fresh bread, butter, cheese, salami, jam, coffee, the works.  And today, another colleague had a birthday and she cooked us a delicious Thai curry soup, with fresh bread and dessert.  Lecker!  So let’s do the math — if there are about 10 people that work in the  same building as me, I can look forward to 10 birthday meals this year!  That works out kinda nice, don’t you think?  I am now totally sold on this particular foreign concept.  Go Germany!

Okay, my garlic lemon tea cup is almost empty, so I am off to refill…